Harrowing Halloween
by actionman81
Summary: When an uninvited guest shows up at Ba Nee's Halloween party, can Jem and the Holograms handle things?


October 1989

Starlight Mansion

"I hate Halloween!" Terri stamped her sneakered feet in frustration

"Oh Terri" Jerrica knelt down, "we've been over this. There's nothing to be afraid of during Halloween"

"I know" she pouted, "I just don't know what to be for Halloween, that's all" she shook her head, sending her twin blonde braids flying around her freckled face

"What about a scary witch?" Ashley poked her head from around the corner, a green mask on her face

"Nah" Terri frowned

"A clown?" Krissie suggested

"No" Terri sighed

"Well then figure it out yourself" Ashley walked off in disgust

O'Carolyn Residence

"Hand me that streamer" Martin O'Carolyn leaned down from the step ladder as his half Vietnamese-half Irish daughter separated orange and black crepe paper bands from their packaging

"Sure Dad" Ba Nee reached up and passed an orange streamer to her father

"Have you figured out what you want to be for the party?"

"Not yet" Ba Nee shook her head. This was the first time in almost a year that her friends from Starlight Mansion would spend any considerable time at the O'Carolyn's house. They had of course visited her many times over the past school year and the summer, but once the Fall semester had started, many changes had happened. Older girls like Lela, Ashley and Deirdre had more schoolwork, while younger children like Terri had extra-curricular activities like confidence building classes to attend, so Ba Nee only saw her friends usually in school.

San Quentin State Prison

Zipper shrugged his black leather jacket on and walked out into the brisk night, sure he would get revenge on all the people who had wronged him, "And I know just who I'm going to start with" he grinned to himself. While in prison, he'd been keeping abreast of his targets, listening when he could to information about them, where they'd been, who they'd been seen with. It had taken him years, but had a rough idea where they would be and he knew exactly how much he wanted to make them suffer now.

The night of the party, O'Carolyn Residence

A little after seven that night, the doorbell began ringing. Martin opened the door, greeted by several costumed characters. Grinning from under their masks and hats, the Starlight Girls shuffled through the door, including Laura Holloway, who had moved back into Starlight Mansion after Ba Nee had left last year. Dominic Lerner was in attendance and also Danny, who had been staying at Haven House for the past year. Danse ushered the kids through the door, followed by Jerrica, Kimber, Aja, Shana and Raya.

"Welcome everyone" Martin smiled, "tonight there's a real treat. We're going to have a real murder mystery"

"Oh great" Ashley groaned, "cue Terri's panic attack"

"It's ok" Terri sniffled, "it's not real. It's just pretend"

"That's a relief" Deirdre exhaled

"Ok everyone, gather around" Martin called the kids over to the center dining table, which was covered in lovely Halloween themed goodies, "let's see who draws which character"

"Character?" Laura seemed out of sorts

"It's a murder mystery game" Ba Nee piped up, "We each draw a character and then find out who's the villain and who's the dead person"

"Oh" Laura nodded absentmindedly

Meanwhile, outside the house, Zipper was planning something much more devious than a murder mystery game, "Those stupid girls" he sneered, "she just had to drop that lantern and set that whole place up in smoke. That was the beginning of it" Years ago, Eric Raymond had hired Zipper to sneak into Starlight House and scare Jerrica off. After Rio had left for the night, Zipper broke into Starlight House and tried to make off with some items, but Jerrica and the others caught him. Unfortunately, he bumped into Kimber and she dropped her lantern, setting Starlight House ablaze.

Zipper rubbed his hands together. He knew just the perfect recipe for revenge

Inside the house, the Starlight Girls had grouped into a large circle and were scrambling for pieces of paper

"Don't show anyone" Martin called out, smiling as the girls dove for the printed chits. He turned to the two boys, "You're going to play?" he offered

"Sure" Dominic shrugged. Danny smiled as they both bent calmly down and picked up two paper bits that had flown near their sneakered feet

The girls began running around, their costumes flying under the overhead fan's breeze, as they tried to find out who was suspect and who was guilty. Danny and Dominic stared at their papers, looked at each other and grinned. No one saw the grimacing face in the window, a face that wasn't a harmless Halloween decoration.

In the other large room of the house, The Holograms began setting up the rest of the party game. Shana and Kimber pushed a table against the wall while Raya, Jerrica and Aja moved chairs out of the way, creating an open space.

"Jerrica" a young voice piped up. It was Ba Nee

"Yes Ba Nee" Jerrica sighed, "We're a little busy"

"I know" Ba Nee tilted her head to one side, "I was just wondering when Jem was going to get here"

Jerrica shook her head, "I'm not sure honey. Go help your Dad with the other guests, ok?"

"Oh alright" Ba Nee walked off

After Ba Nee left, Jerrica turned back towards the Holograms, "Whew, I thought she'd ruin the surprise"

"What time will Rio be here?" Raya wanted to know

"In about twenty minutes" Jerrica grinned, "after all those years of scaring each other silly, I think the girls will appreciate some of our brand of Halloween fun"

Meanwhile, in the main hall, the party was getting underway

"Come on, check it out" girls called to each other

"Oh look at this!" Krissie squealed, "I'm the doctor"

"I'm the secretary" Ashley groaned, "now who wants to be a dopey thing like that?"

"I'm the-" Terri began, and looked down at her paper chit, "the dead b-b-body" she gasped. She glanced around, hoping no one had heard her, "It's fun to be scared" she sang to herself, "it's just a charade so don't be afraid"

No sooner had she sung "afraid" when the lights abruptly shut off and someone clapped a hand over her mouth

Outside the house, Zipper saw his chance when the lights went out. He neared closer to the front door, reached out his hand and held on to the doorknob. The knob glinted in the moonlight almost as much as Zipper's eyeballs did.

Suddenly the lights went back on in the house and he slunk back into the shadows.

Inside the house, the lights went on and Terri lay on the floor, "I'm dead" she wailed

"We can see that" Deirdre laughed, "now we got to find out who killed you"

"Probably a Care Bear" Laura smiled

"Said the person who's still in rehab" Terri shot back

"Girls, that's enough" Jerrica stopped the argument

While Zipper was skulking around in the front of the house, something else was going on behind the O'Carolyn's house

"Are you sure this is the place?" Ellen nudged Molly

"Sure I'm sure. That dumb Asian kid goes in here every day after school now that she doesn't live in that big mansion anymore" Molly nodded, "and she was telling that blonde kid about it a couple of days ago. You know, the one who's scared of her own shadow"

"Maybe we really shouldn't just show up like this" Sandra shrugged, trailing behind

"Who asked you anyway?" Ellen snapped at her

"For a dumb Asian kid, she did great on that reading treasure hunt we were in" Sandra smiled

"Big deal" Ellen shook her head, "though those books weren't too bad" she admitted

"Hurry up and knock on the door" Molly implored, "I bet they got food in there"

"Oh alright" Ellen growled, and knocked on the back door

In the house, an argument was brewing, "Come on Terri, dead bodies don't talk and they certainly don't cry" Ashley pointed an accusing finger at Terri, who sat glumly in a brown leather recliner

"But I'm just sitting here" Terri sighed

"Yeah, well you look miserable" Ashley scoffed

"I'm a dead body. Show me a happy dead body!" she threw her hands up in exasperation

"One second girls" Martin stepped away from the group for a moment and moved towards the back door, "Looks like we have some more guests" he opened the back door

"Hi, we're the Miss -" Ellen began

Sandra pushed ahead, "I'm Sandra, this is Ellen and Molly. We're friends of the Starlight Girls"

"Oh" Martin looked blankly at the three girls, "Let me just check something girls. Come on in and sit down" he motioned to kitchen table, "Would you like some milk, or a soda?"

"A soda would be great" Ellen immediately requested

"Thanks" Sandra thanked Martin for Ellen

"Sure" he nodded, handing Ellen the soda and went back into the main room.

Martin looked around and soon found Jerrica, "There's three girls who say they're friends with Ba Nee and the other girls" he pointed out Molly, Sandra and Ellen in the kitchen by motioning with his thumb in their direction

"Oh the Misfits girls" Jerrica sighed, "Well, it is Halloween, and we can't really turn them out now"

"Where would they go?" Shana stepped up behind Jerrica, "they don't even have a place to stay"

"Yeah, but they didn't seem to mind pulling dirty tricks to win the treasure hunt" Kimber frowned, walking into the conversation

"Still, they're just little girls, like ours" Aja voiced some reason

"Right" Martin understood. He turned back towards the kitchen, "Girls, come on it and I'll explain the party game to you"

By and by, the game continued. At first, Ashley, Krissie and Ba Nee had been a little reticent to include Sandra, Molly and Ellen into the game, but soon the three Misfits Girls were part of the group, all asking each other questions, trying to find out who had killed Terri's dead body character.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Jerrica stood to answer it. Martin began getting up, but Jerrica motioned for him to sit down, "Oh I think our Halloween surprise has arrived" she smiled, reaching for the door.

"Yeah, surprise" Zipper rasped, brandishing a pistol at her through the open door.

"What do you want Zipper?" Kimber scowled at the thug

"What do you think I want?" he menacingly waved the pistol at her

Kimber was too afraid to answer as her thoughts sprang to the worst possible scenario

"Last time was an accident" he grinned, "this time will just look like an accident"

"Synergy" Jerrica whispered, "I need your help"

"Quit that yapping" Zipper aimed the gun at Jerrica, "go sit back down" he pointed to the couch where the other girls sat with the two boys, "and you two" he frowned at Dominic and Danny, "don't get any ideas about being heroes or you'll be dead heroes"

Danny and Dominic were unsure of how to respond, so they merely nodded. Ba Nee and Krissie looked just as frightened as the boys were.

Unable to contact Synergy, Jerrica was unsure of the best way to proceed.

"Shouldn't Rio have gotten here by now?" Shana checked her watch

Almost as if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Zipper spun around on his heels and reached for the knob

"Come on" Rio called from outside

Jerrica sighed as she feared the worst scenario for her boyfriend

"Jerrica" Rio called again, "this thing is heavy"

"Heavy" Zipper chuckled, "just like your body will be when it's lying on the ground" he opened the door. Rio stood on the other end of the doorway, holding an enormous pumpkin

Terri took one look at the vegetable and even in the midst of her fright, let out an amazed squeal, "The Great Pumpkin!"

Zipper wheeled around to point his gun at her voice and Rio saw his chance. He shoved the large squash at the thug, knocking him off his feet. The pumpkin fell to the floor and smashed on the hardwood floor. Rio knelt and in one fleet movement, took Zipper's pistol and gave the villain a swift sweep of his booted foot , sending Zipper across the floor. Martin leaped from his seat and he and Rio deftly tied up Zipper while Aja sat deftly on Zipper's chest. Shana grabbed the phone and dialed the police while Danse, Raya and Kimber rounded up the children and herded them into the other side room, away from the action.

After the police had come and gone, everyone had somewhat calmed down, though they were clearly still on edge and shook up.

"I told you there was nothing to be afraid of on Halloween" Lela reassured Terri as the children sat and ate cookies and punch

"Monsters don't scare me now" Terri wiped her nose, "just scary real people, like Zipper"

"That's why we have to watch out for each other" Danny tousled Terri's hair.

"Yeah" Terri nodded, "Hey wait" she tugged at Jerrica's dress, "what was that Halloween surprise you thought was coming?"

"Rio was supposed to bring a large pumpkin so we could all decorate it together" Jerrica sighed

"Too bad we can't make that smashed pumpkin into a big pie" Dominic licked his lips

"Maybe not, but I think there's something else we can do" Jerrica stood up, "excuse me a minute, I have to make a phone call"

The doorbell rang soon after. "I'll get it" Ba Nee ran to the door. Nobody stopped her. She opened the door, "Oh wow!" she exclaimed when she saw who was there

"Hi everyone" Jem smiled, "I heard you had a harrowing night and thought you could use a little entertainment to brighten things up"

"Wow, excellent" Danny grinned

"You bet" Lela was thrilled

"Thanks for coming, Jem" Laura nodded

"You're very welcome" Jem smiled back as she and the Holograms began their impromptu Halloween concert for the Starlight Girls and their friends.


End file.
